Happy Tuesday, CurationsLA Fam! The Marines turn 251 today, Sesame Street turns 57, and tomorrow we thank every veteran who served, with a beachside ceremony and flyover in Santa Monica. Route 66 also turns 100 tomorrow, and the Troubadour just joined rock and roll royalty, so this is a week to get your kicks. The Lakers have won six straight, UCLA football is a perfect 9-0, and Fall Out Boy is bringing a stadium tour to Dodger Stadium next summer. Soak up one more sunny day near 88 degrees, because cooler air and a few rain chances roll in by the weekend. See everyone back here Thursday. Wyatt
01🛣️ HAPPY 100TH, ROUTE 66 The Mother Road, about 2,448 miles from Chicago to the Santa Monica Pier, was officially established 100 years ago tomorrow
02🚀 ASTRONAUTS WANTED NASA is recruiting its next astronaut class to help build a permanent base on the moon, with applications due Dec. 3
03🦖 DINOSAUR BLOOD Scientists report the strongest evidence yet of red blood cells inside a 115-million-year-old dinosaur bone from Brazil
04📮 LEGENDS ON STAMPS Willie Mays and Pat Summitt headline the U.S. Postal Service's 2027 stamp lineup
05🎖️ THANK YOU, VETS Chains from Applebee's to Starbucks offer free items and discounts to veterans and active-duty military tomorrow, so bring your ID and call ahead
01🚁 BEACHSIDE SALUTE Santa Monica and the U.S. Army host a Veterans Day ceremony tomorrow from 11:00am to noon at Beach Parking Lot 4, with a Chinook and C-130 flyover and the 300th Army Band
02🎶 ROUTE 66 ANTHEM Santa Monica data scientist Bart Blackburn wins the $10,000 Route 66 Centennial Song Contest, and his song debuts at tomorrow's centennial
03🍎 FREE PRESCHOOL A no-cost preschool for about 50 kids is coming to West Long Beach's West Facilities Center, and the waitlist is open
04🌧️ RAIN CHANCES After highs near 88 today and tomorrow, cooler air brings rain chances late Thursday night into Saturday morning and again Sunday night into Monday
05🎅 LETTERS TO SANTA Monterey Park's Langley Senior Center is collecting kids' letters to Santa through Dec. 4, and every writer gets a certificate back from the North Pole
01🌌 NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM NightTales lights up the Natural History Museum after dark with glowing installations and projections, starting this Thursday on select nights through Jan. 10
03🦃 FRIENDSGIVING BLOCK FEST Live stages, a night market and food vendors fill Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade this Saturday from 5:00pm
04🚗 AUTO SHOW The LA Auto Show rolls into the Convention Center Nov. 20 to 29, with test drives included in admission
05📅 THIS WEEK Things to do this week in Los Angeles, from now until Friday the 13th
Sunny and hot today with a high near 88, and Veterans Day stays just as warm. Things cool off from Thursday, with rain chances late Thursday night into Saturday morning and again Sunday night into Monday.
SOURCE · National Weather Service central Los Angeles forecast · FULL FORECASTIf you commit to nothing, everything looks worth doing.
Shane Parrish, author and founder of Farnam Street💎 SPECIAL DELIVERY
Jeweler Harry Winston donates the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian, mailing it first-class for $2.44 in postage plus $142.85 to insure it for $1 million.
Route 66 turns 100 tomorrow. Which Los Angeles crooner first turned the song (Get Your Kicks on) Route 66 into a hit in 1946?
ANSWER AT THE BOTTOM ↓
Briciola means crumb in Italian, a fitting name for this small, candlelit room on Sunset Blvd., where the menu blends Italian and Brazilian cooking. Start with cod croquettes and burrata topped with tomato granita, then share the grilled branzino in a moqueca-style coconut sauce. Save room for bananas foster with a savory cheese twist, and book ahead, because this one was made for date night.
The 1914 Hotel Clark on Hill Street has been reimagined, and Votana is its all-day Mediterranean restaurant. Executive Chef Gio Koletty, whose resume runs from The Peninsula Beverly Hills to the Sydney Opera House, starts dinner with Catalan pan con tomate and hamachi crudo, then sends out grilled whole branzino and dry-aged New York strip. Dinner runs nightly from 5:00pm, and weekend brunch brings shakshuka and challah pain perdu. On Thursday nights, live jazz and soul fill the pool deck.
Good Alley Reserve is the dressed-up sibling of Rosemead's Good Alley, a darker, date-ready dining room on E. Duarte Rd. built around handmade soup dumplings. The move here is the A5 wagyu soup dumplings, $26 for six, followed by spinach noodles in spicy crawfish sauce and vinegar-glazed sticky ribs. Peak hours get busy, so call ahead for a spot in line, and if the wait runs past 70 minutes, a round of dumplings is on the house.
🏆 Eater Awards Eater LA crowns its 2026 Eater Award winners, from the year's best new restaurants to bars and bakeries, via Eater LA
🥞 Pantry reopening The century-old Original Pantry Café reopens Thursday, Nov. 19, at 9th and Figueroa, with profits funding Hope the Mission's homelessness services, via Time Out Los Angeles
🍫 $1 churros Churrería El Moro pours $1 churros for International Churro Day tomorrow, and buy 11 to get the 12th free, at its Sunset Blvd. shop plus La Habra and Costa Mesa, via LA Magazine
The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing over the 101 doesn't officially open until next month, but nobody told the wildlife. Cameras caught a coyote using the bridge twice, making it the first large animal seen on the crossing, and one shot shows the little trailblazer trotting across with a stick in its mouth. Very P-22 energy. The National Park Service is adding more cameras so we can all follow along.
Tina and Steve Callas opened their first Christmas tree lot back in 1977, and five decades later Tina's Trees is still the Valley's go-to for fresh-cut firs. The family lot spent 25 years by the original Barone's on Moorpark and now sets up at Westfield Fashion Square. Trees arrive fresh from Oregon and Washington all season long, so start plotting your fir hunt now.
Valley native Micki Boden skipped the fancy tiers and made the cafeteria coffee cake from her LAUSD school days the star of her wedding. She and husband Matt Stollman, who met working on Big Brother, celebrated in October at the Valley Relics Museum in Van Nuys. The goal was to give the groom's East Coast family a truly LA experience. Crumb topping forever.
🐻 Pooh turns 100 Winnie-the-Pooh turns 100 this year, and LAPL has a cozy history lesson plus a stack of Milne books and DVDs waiting at your local branch, via Los Angeles Public Library
🎁 Spark of Love toys ABC7 Spark of Love is collecting new, unwrapped toys and sports gear at Southern California fire stations and Subaru retailers, with the big bus stuffing at Los Cerritos Center on Dec. 11, via ABC7
🎨 LA Commons murals LA Commons is unveiling new community murals this month in Exposition Park and Florence-Firestone, with a South Central Avenue mural coming in December, via LA Downtown News
Fresh renderings are in for the Melrose Triangle, the nearly 2.7-acre block at 9060 Santa Monica Blvd. where Santa Monica and Melrose meet. The Charles Company's revised plan trades an office-heavy design for five to eight story buildings with 282 apartments, including 66 senior affordable units, plus about 100,000 square feet of shops and restaurants. Corbel Architects wraps it all around a big central courtyard lined with outdoor dining. There's no timeline yet, but the gateway to WeHo is getting a glow up.
A city lot along the LA River that once looked like a junkyard just reopened as the 1.5-acre Caballero Creek Wetlands Park, right next to Reseda High School. Look for native sycamores and oaks plus a big central bioswale that catches and cleans rainwater, and neighbors are already spotting frogs, owls and coyotes moving in. The entrance is at 6351 Lindley Ave. near Victory Blvd., one more link in the West Valley's growing river greenway.
Shovels are in the dirt at 11111 Jefferson Blvd., where ElevenOneEleven will turn a three-plus-acre site into 344 homes, 52 of them affordable, above ground-floor shops. The real treat is about 17,500 square feet of publicly accessible open space spread across three spots along Sepulveda and Jefferson. Completion is targeted for late 2028.
🏓 Redondo pickleball The first drawing is out for an eight-court, tournament-ready pickleball complex at Aviation Park, with the city aiming to open it in 2027, via Easy Reader
🏘️ Warner Center housing The Green is rising at Califa Street and Variel Avenue with 316 affordable apartments and signage inspired by Mid-Century dingbat buildings, via Urbanize LA
🎓 SCVi college space SCVi cut the ribbon on its new College Connect classroom and lounge, built with College of the Canyons to give students a head start on college, via The Signal
Brian Rodriguez left film editing and teaching in 2022 to smoke meat full time, and now Big Brian's Meats is opening its first shop at 5574 South St. in Lakewood. Expect SoCal Mex BBQ that blends smoked classics with flavors from both sides of the family, from the crew that took Best Sausage and Best Side Dish for its brisket chili at this year's Long Beach Barbecue Festival. A soft opening is planned before the end of the year, with a grand opening in early 2027.
Porto's Bakery, the family-run institution Rosa Porto started in 1976, is bringing its first Inland Empire location to Ontario as part of an 8.6-acre development at Archibald Ave. and Inland Empire Blvd. This one is designed as a flagship with nearly twice the indoor dining of the other stores, plus a full coffee bar. Construction starts in 2027 and doors are projected for 2028, so stock up on Cheese Rolls and Potato Balls until then.
Encino's own zero-sugar soda company Zevia landed a $20 million growth investment, and sales are up 18.4%. New CEO Alexandre Ruberti, in the job since June, is aiming the fizzy lineup squarely at Gen Z and Millennial sippers. A homegrown LA brand with momentum and zero sugar? Cheers to that.
🛋️ Sofa showroom LA-based modular sofa brand 7th Avenue, known for stain-resistant fabrics and machine-washable covers, opens a showroom at Westfield Topanga by the end of January, via What Now LA
🏥 Emanate's new ER Emanate Health Queen of the Valley Hospital opened a new $130 million emergency building with 60 ER beds and 18 ICU beds, via LA Business Journal
📚 Malik Books Malik Muhammad ran for Puerto Rico at the 1984 LA Olympics, then built Malik Books into a beloved Black-owned bookstore at Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, via The LA Local
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is naming the Troubadour an official Landmark Venue, putting the club where Elton John got his first big break alongside the Ryman and the Surf Ballroom. The dedication happens tomorrow at 3:00pm, ahead of a sold-out tribute to Gram Parsons, who joins the Hall this Saturday at the Peacock Theater, where some tickets are still on sale. Even better, LA will now host the induction ceremony at least every other year.
The Tony-winning rock musical Passing Strange is getting its proper SoCal premiere at Pasadena Playhouse almost two decades after its Broadway run. Director Zhailon Levingston, fresh off his Tony for Cats: The Jellicle Ball, made it his top pick for the Playhouse, and creators Stew and Heidi Rodewald get to cheer from the audience this time. It runs through Nov. 29.
The 1935 forest-themed wonderland on Broadway is open again Thursdays through Sundays, and plenty of Angelenos haven't heard yet. New operators Neil Biondich and Alex McCullough are filling all five kitschy stories with magic shows in the basement, karaoke in the tiki bar with its vintage speedboat, and immersive theater parties in the main room. Next on their wish list is a never-ending, Dungeons & Dragons-inspired live game.
🎤 Theatre West rocks Theatre West throws Theatre Rocks!, a one-night, all-ages pop, rock and musical theater party with Cover Me Blind, Cat Chemist and Bobby Bognar, this Sunday at 7:00pm for $20, via The LA Beat
🎹 Echoes of Japan Pianist Junko Ueno Garrett plays Joe Hisaishi, Ado, YOASOBI and more anime favorites at the free Echoes of Japan concert at First United Methodist Church of Pasadena on Nov. 21 at 4:00pm, via Colorado Boulevard
🎸 Dashboard Confessional Dashboard Confessional brings its Unplugged 25th anniversary tour to the Hollywood Palladium on April 1, 2027, with presales starting this Thursday at 9:00am, via Pasadena Star-News
UCLA football is 9-0 after a 34-20 win at Minnesota on Saturday, with Ty Dieffenbach connecting with Aidan Mizell for two touchdowns and 150 yards. The Bruins sit at No. 4 in the AP poll and host Illinois this Friday at 6:00pm at the Rose Bowl on FOX. Students get in free, and two who check in and stay through the fourth quarter will win a quarter of in-state tuition from Champion of Westwood.
Ducks winger Cutter Gauthier was named the NHL's First Star of the Week after leading the league with eight goals, including two hat tricks, as Anaheim went 5-0 to open November. He capped it Sunday with his third hat trick in five games in a 5-2 win over Pittsburgh at Honda Center, joining Teemu Selanne and Corey Perry in the team record book. The red-hot Ducks host Nashville tomorrow at 7:00pm for Military Appreciation Night.
The Long Beach Poly girls volleyball team saved championship point and scored the final four points to beat Redondo Union in five sets, 16-14 in the fifth, for the CIF Southern Section Division 2 title at Cerritos College. Junior Avery Milburn sealed it with the title-clinching block. It is the Jackrabbits' second section crown in three seasons and fourth ever.
🏒 Kings host Nashville The Kings host the Nashville Predators tonight at 7:00pm at Crypto.com Arena to open a three-game homestand, via NHL.com
🏀 USC women's hoops The No. 3 USC women, 2-0, host Charleston tonight at 7:30pm at Galen Center on Big Ten Network, via FOX Sports
🏀 UCLA cracks top 10 UCLA men's basketball, 2-0 after a 114-63 win over North Florida, climbed to No. 9 in the AP poll and hosts Arkansas-Pine Bluff tomorrow at 6:00pm at Pauley Pavilion on Peacock, via ESPN
Route 66 turns 100 tomorrow. Which Los Angeles crooner first turned the song (Get Your Kicks on) Route 66 into a hit in 1946?
Nat King Cole
Songwriter Bobby Troup dreamed up the tune on a cross-country drive west to California, his wife Cynthia suggested the title, and the King Cole Trio turned it into a hit in 1946.
CRUSH this mid-week, CurationsLA Fam!
SEE YOU BACK HERE THURSDAY